A factual account based on the Commission's public and private documents
ISBN 0-498-01933-0
From the inside front and back jacket
of the 1976 issue of "Presumed Guilty:"
If Howard Roffman is right, and his careful documentation argues that he is, Lee Harvey Oswald could not have been the assassin of John F. Kennedy. He could not have been the gunman in the sixth floor window of the Texas School Book Depository building, as is shown by his close analysis of both the circumstantial evidence and the ballistics of the case.
The implications are serious indeed, and the Introduction deals with them extensively, besides assessing the contributions of other critics. The documentation here presented, extracted from the once-secret working papers of the Warren Commission, demonstrates conclusively that the Commission prejudged Oswald guilty and made use of only circumstantial evidence to bolster its assumption, while suppressing information that tended to undermine it.
Roffman in this book states the charge explicitly: "When the Commissioners decided in advance that the wrong man was the lone assassin, whatever their intentions, they protected the real assassins. Through their staff, they misinformed the American public and falsified history."
About the Author Howard Roffman, now 23, was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa., where he attended public school. His interest in the assassination of President Kennedy began when he was fourteen, and he read everything he could lay his hands on on the subject. By the 11th grade he had bought all 26 volumes of the Warren Report ($76), and, convinced of the inadequacy of the conclusions, he went to the National Archives and studied the files--the youngest researcher ever to see them. Alarmed at what he discovered, he writes, "I can't think of anything more threatening than when the government lies about the murder of its leader."
Mr. Roffman completed his undergraduate studies as a History major at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with honors in 1974. At present studying law at the Holland Law Center, Gainesville, Fla., he is the author of a second book, Understanding the Cold War.
PART I: THE PRESUMPTION OF GUILT
PART II: THE MEDICAL/BALLISTICS EVIDENCE
PART III: THE ACCUSED
Appendix A: Tentative Outline of the Work of the President's Commission
Appendix B: Memorandum to J. Lee Rankin from David W. Belin
Appendix C: Memorandum to J. Lee Rankin from Norman Redlich
Appendix D: A Later Memorandum to J. Lee Rankin from Norman Redlich
Appendix E: Report of the FBI's First Interview with Charles Givens
Appendix F: FBI Report on Mrs. R. E. Arnold